Issues Views Reviews

Dostana Movie Review

November 14, 2008

This is a one of those mindless comedies which could have been more entertaining if it hadn’t been for the insensitive and stereotypical portrayal of gays. The producers have gone on record saying that it is just a comedy and that the subject has been handled sensitively but this is debatable.

The movie is about two guys and a girl and is set in Miami. Right at the start of the movie Sam (Abhishek Bachchan) and Kunal (John Abraham) put on an act of being gays – all to get to share an apartment with beautiful Neha (Priyanka Chopra). The movie is centered around the comic situations which arise because of this pretense. The movie is worth seeing either/or you have nothing to do, like the actors concerned, like mindless comedies, are curious to see what Karan Johar has to say about gays, and want to make up your own mind as to whether gays are portrayed sensitively or not.

Yeah sure! Juggle the freelance work (movie reviews for me are often work but yes, they are far easier than my other freelance work) of which I have three assignments on hand right now, plus cook two meals a day for a hungry family, do all the shopping, manage the household, and ofcourse blog…to just to give you an idea, I get so little time that I drink tea standing up and when I am exercising I am always looking at the clock! However I do love my life as it is one I have chosen. :) – Nita.

I thought this was a remake of “three to tango” starring Matthew Perry

I’ve seen Three To Tango, but Dostana is not like that because in the former matthew is mistaken for a homosexual and kept to guard some guy’s gf. But the plot of chuck and larry is uncannily similar to that of dostana. – Nita.

I guess expecting straight people to understand gays is a bit difficult. Gays have a better understanding of how straights work because they have had to ‘deal’ with their straight parents. However how many straights have gay family members? Those that do have gay friends or family always seem to treat them like ‘special children’. What most people do not realise is that possibly sexuality is nothing special its just who you sleep with. I guess its making a big deal out of nothing. I would rather straight people not discuss homosexuals at all especially in a country where even straights have yet to find sexual liberation. In some ways Indian gays are much better off at least landlords dont mind giving rooms to two male roommates or parents do not mind seeing their grown up son go around with other guys.

Odzer, yes its tough to for a heterosexual, specially one brainwashed by the society here. And that point you made about Indians and sexual liberation is absolutely right, we are so hypocritical about sexuality in general that it would be a miracle for normal mainstream cinema to portray homosexuality correctly. – Nita.

I had some very bad premonitions about this movie when I heard Abhishek Bachchan, in a promo, say “This is a happy,gay movie, not gay in the homosexual sense”. Your review kind of confirmed it for me.

The first thing your review brought to my mind was “Kal ho na Ho” and the sad way in which gayness was introduced into the plot(incidentally the recent Airtel ad, one of the worst of its kind, kind of plays on that angle). It’s clear that while Karan Johar might have made one small step in his portrayal of gays, Bollywood has a long way to go. The timing, in the context of the section 377 case in India and the Proposition 8 vote in California makes it all the more ironic.
Miles to go before we sleep!

Prasanth

Prasanth, all that Karan Johar has done is actually talk about homosexuality, and as you said, it’s one small step and there is a long way to. The context you mention makes the whole thing pretty sad. I don’t think we Indians are ready to accept homosexuals into society. – Nita.

u combined 4 pics into one? then its a very good panoramic piece… i did it in my mobile, tryin to click 3 diff pics and stitch into one, and it is resting as my header… ;)
btw, is the movie worth watching for Priyanka’s sake?

Priyanka is cute in the film and very sexy. So is John, like Harini mentioned. And I personally liked Abhishek! – Nita.

I will surely avoid this one.
I am not sure Nita but I think the Marathi film ‘Umbartha’ with smita Patil did touch upon this topic fleetingly.

Sangeeta, I saw Umbartha a long time ago and therefore I do not remember much. I remember the beginning though where she touches upon various social issues concerning women if my memory holds me right. – Nita.

I read the plot of the movie a few days ago and kinda knew that thats how the movie would be. Some timepass kinda one and not done in good humor and fairness to the sexes.

I think, Indians in India, have to still get sensitive about gays and how to treat them fairly in our closed-minded society. I guess its best learned when you are outside of India. We learn to appreciate a lot of things and live harmoniously.

I’m not sure how they’ve portrayed gays in the movie but I get a vibe its not in good sense.

Thanks. :) I really love it when people appreciate my photos because I know I am an amateur! :) About the movie, yep, you got it. Its a time pass movie. – Nita.

I don’t expect this movie to cause a revolution or something, but if things are being discussed on Karan Johar scale, they will surely be noticed. Ofcourse, making a mockery or stereotyping any group is not the type of comedy I enjoy.

Priyank Dostana isn’t making mockery of anything thats so close to the producer’s and director’s heart. KJ is simply in the act of “breaking the news” so to speak to an audience that is fed with Saas-Bahu 24/7. Indian literature or regional lang does not explore the idea in any sensible way, unless you turn to Sanskrit, but tht too is limited and who reads it anyway? Least of all average mums. the film starts wth Karan’s letter “I love you mum” and if u notice the mum’s who is being addressed here.
He never was the kind to scream off rooftops anyway, n like ODEZER points it out up there is it easy in a country which still doesn’t even accept the existence of such things? Bec eng language contains material and literature people still automatically associate ths with the West, so Karan’s way is the right way for the auto wallah and especially nanoo-munu narm-sharm ignorant mum. Let her hear and listen and get used to the word first, then let the “sensitive” portrayal come.
Watch it with “Birdcage” if you can and see how its in the West too.
It takes a lot of dohrana before some minds start accepting things as a course of reality.
Every woman shd watch it. Karan is just playing with the theme but underlying messages, the subversive thngs imp : 1) Gays may not look like Boman all the time, they cd look like Abraham or Abhishek 2) they may not do all tht effeminate shaking of fingers like Boman but casually put an arm around each other on the streets looking like close friends but could actually be lovers…these are what he is trying to show the unsuspecting people who sees these thngs and dnt even notice here in India!
Its going to be a hit, Karan has taken the first n right step is my view.

Well, yes you are right it does tell us that gays are a part of society but in my opinion we can do without insensitive portrayals precisely because gayness is not accepted in our society. These kind of movies will increase people’s biases and strengthen people’s beliefs that being gay is some sort of disease! And in any case, I felt that Abhishek and Abraham are continously reinforcing gay stereotypes by mimicking some silly gay “mannerisms.” About it being a hit, well, it might well be! It’s a laugh riot although the jokes are on gays. – Nita.

O and Nita the header is lovely – so many picyutes u had to combine? doesnt show, pl dnt change it for a while and goes beautifully wth this film: At A Bend in the Road (hopefully towds better understanding n tolerance). Its so full of possibilities :)

oh before reading your review i already read amit’s :P
but i would just say the same thing : the core issue remains unaddressed

Well, if you take their core issue as giving some crude laughs to the viewer, they have addressed the core issue! Frankly I never thought the director was trying to portray homosexuality because none of the lead characters are gays. – Nita.

I have been debating whether I should watch this movie or not. I am tempted only because of John Abraham and I’m quite sure that we can’t really expect anything stellar from Karan Johar. :) Maybe I should just skip this and save my money!

P.S- Lovely header. One of the best so far!

Ruhi, thanks. About this movie, it’s only been produced by Karan Johar, not directed so I am not sure how involved he was in the nitty gritties. But yes KANK by KJ was a disaster in my opinion. And yeah John Abraham here is chocolate candy if you like those muscular types. But John acting is below average in this movie. And the jokes are lame, and the movie drags.- Nita.

You mention Birdcage (or La cage aux folles, as it is originally called) as a reflection of Western attitudes to gay people. Your point about cultural prejudices is right but I think it is inaccurate/ irrelevant to compare a play from 1973 France with a 2008 film in India to illustrate that point.

The play explored attitudes prevalent then – in 1973. The theme notwithstanding, its Broadway production in the 1980s – when AIDS was already mainstream but gay people were not – was borderline prudish.

The reason why it still runs to packed houses in theatres is because of its camp appeal and not because the message needs reinforcing.

Much modern work and discourse that explores homosexuality in the west has shifted to equal rights. This suggests that gay people are not invisible – like they are in India – but that they are visible enough not to be ignored. That is pretty different, wouldn’t you say?

@ Shefaly, yes it is.
Am not referring to the play, but the film that was made sometime in 1996. The film has a Hindi movie feel to it wth all that ramataaz and typical escapades.
The reason I suggest pple see that in addn to Dostana are two: 1) they get to see how it is still( Calif revoked a Law recently if u remember,, even while Connecticut enforced license to marry) in the West, with Straight members in a Gay family.
2) you get authentic portrayal about how being Gay is not just abt sexuality – its a whole way of life and perception and thought process – they redo the house decor before the girl’s parents visit, remember?
This and Brokeback Mountain (whr u see the situation of two straight women married to Gay men) wd be easier to relate to for most rather than serious stuff like Wong Kar Wai or movies tht associate MSM with AIDS etc.

@ Shefaly, am sure u wd agree whn I point out tht India is, vis-a-vis Gays, at a place whr the West was, in the 70s :)
I feel it’s relevant in the Indian context. We hve only just begun, IPC 377 is still in force even as I write this…in short pple, esply, women who raise children, shd watch it and watch out for things I mentioned in my posts. KJo is pretty intelligent, belongs to our gen, had a sound edu, is astute businessman, and aware yuppie who wdnt let HIS productions go unsupervised or do smthng utterly silly is my conviction. He always did manage to raise controversies, wh is exactly wht is necessary for awareness to happen – thts a mechanism, for getting pple to talk, debate it out, nai? Thts perhaps the whole point of this movie.
Did you see that designer maariage happening atlast in Fashion? And both the Fashion mom and his one are Punjabis for some strange reason!

As I mentioned, your point about prejudices is very valid but my comment was essentially about a relevant temporal piece to illustrate the point.

When you mention Brokeback, you pick a stronger – and more current, not to mention more realistic – example to illustrate embedded practices in a conservative, even macho culture where masculinity is meant to be just so.

The film with Robin Williams was based on the play. Ergo, still based on views from 1973 not on views from 1996. La Cage still works but mainly for its camp appeal (and does so even for gay audiences), not for the issues at its core.

In popular culture, a nod to La Cage was seen in Friends where Chandler’s father is a cross-dressing performer. It was also a portrait in hilarity because Kathleen Turner, a woman, played a cross-dressing gay man and delivered songs in her husky voice.

I believe Water by Deepa Mehta tried to address the theme of homosexuality as well. That was mainstream, right? I think it went down like a lead bucket, no? :-)

Then there was Bend It Like Beckham where Jes’s friend Tony, who is gay, offers to marry her so she can follow her scholarship to California and he can go away from his family that are keen to marry him off. When Jes first finds he is gay, she says: ‘You can’t be, you are Indian’. That was meant to be humorous too.

From this film review, I gather that at least the intent was to deliver ‘your son is gay, now get over it’ with humour. Which Brokeback or Water did not try. Why people must laugh at the matter when the real costs of the prejudice and lives built on lies leave them with nothing but tears, I can not quite comprehend. As Nita will tell you, I find it hard to disengage from asking ‘well, what’s your point?’ even in films.

As I said your point is valid. It was your pick of La Cage that puzzled me. There are several and more serious treatments of the subject that people can experience. However do you think the ‘mainstream’ really cares to understand the ‘gay experience’ to change their minds?

IPC 377 is in force mainly due to lack of political will in India. The law is a British legacy and even the British revoked it in the 1958, based on a 1957 report that oddly clubbed prostitution and homosexuality together.

Oh and a good read on the US experience alongside AIDS is Randy Shilts’s And The Band Played On. I read it during my research period and it is a great book that documents the American attitude to ‘mainstream’ and ‘alternative’ sexuality in the 1980s and its cost in public health terms.

@ Shefali, thx (am concerned abt pple who wdnt know what ‘temporal’ is or comedy of manners, or that The Birdcage is da-da-da, they wd watch it, be able to relate to the boys fear that his in-laws may not give their daughter to him if they knew his father was Gay and that he had been brought up by a male mother, whn his biological mother had sought a divorce n left his father, laugh at the cross dressing whn they try to escape paparazzi, love the osngs n notice the dialogues n the dilemmas and remember – also some wd relate terms make an association, bas, purpose of sensitization is served, beta).

Yup, see thts what, Water indeed had sunk like lead. So itni mehanat bekar mein gayi na? We cdnt hve afforded to hve another proj, and a 45 crore one at tht to meet wth the same fate.

If u stay afloat, u serve the cause. And no, at this stage, I wdnt recommend ‘serious’ for the kinds I happen to live with or meet at the local store.
I want this movie to hit sky high and wish every Indian aunty, mummy, wives, girl friends, puzzled women to go watch. At least tht wd be a good warming up bef their Gay- DARs (from RADAR) r honed and come alive or awake (wh ever be the rt term. For their own sakes).

Am not worried abt the Gay’s welfare alone, they hve org groups n huge funds all over the world now n powerful coteries. But these hapless women have no one, not even the govt. N PSBT content is out of their reach. I want the women to know too, recognize what is what n deal with it instead of dragging on wth impossble marriages etc. If they hear it 7 times, it wd register, then they mght just might ask quesns, n gradually it wd sink in.

Did u notice here we are so blind tht we didnt even notice there was a pair of successful Gay designers introduced in Fashion, both the manly-effeminate types.

@ Nita, am sorry too for hogging ur space, but I guess, it goes to ur credit tht u do bring ppl together n manage to excite somethng close to debates. thx. I wd be proud the day it happns in my own space but sadly, I cant write the way u can, or have the same standing or charm, so for a structured review I hv sent everybdy here, to u from my blog.

Pl, pl, dnt forget to write abt today’s meeting. Er- and Nita can u change NT to Rolling please? That last cmmnt, its pers too maybe if we cd del tht?… Sorry, ma’am for the trouble, m so excited :) m smiling all the time now. I wd be one sad person if ths movie fails – really. ;)

I changed NT to Rolling in two comments that you requested. Also I deleted your last comment. Hope that is the one you meant. – Nita.

Men too, infact, bec in India prob is half of them dnt even know they ARE gays and end up getting married and beating up hapless wives the rest of their miserable lives. Upar se they are shy and scared. I wd rather we keep on guiding ppl what they shd watch it and how rather than tell them its bull shit. Karan cdnt hve at ths stage made a movie with the central characters Gay. Do u rembr Fashion was delayed released bec of some kiss? Well, Karan managed to get away wth his even tho this one is actually far more passionate wthout being vulgar, provocative,suggestive or steamy. This kiss was filmed wth sheer joi-de-vivre wth the Gay insiders laughing over our heads actually, “see, folks we did it, n cleverly too, n u cant lay one dirty discriminating, incriminating finger on us, buddy, everythng is legal – and socially approved – they are not Gays, actually, but we show wht cd hve been” this is the point I believe. But I cd be wrong. Wth tht wd let it rest, Shefaly.
U can hit me some later, abhi movie dekho :)

@ your Avatar reminds me of a woman I admire a lot but dnt know where she is currently…Taslima Nasreen. Tht picture reminds me of her.
She had written somewhere, “when I die, I wish to die like a crow, when one dies – ajoot, nijoot, thousands and crores gather around to help the spirit on in its strange journey to an unknown world”. Implication, whn a man dies, he dies alone.
What kind of a film wd she have made if she cd, I wonder…

My main goal when I watch a movie is to be entertained. My goal was easily met and Abhishek Bachchan was simply awesome in the movie,especially in the art of cooking stories.

Nandu, I agree and that is my main aim in watching movies too. But I do not enjoy funny movies which make fun of minority groups and you can put it down to my own extra sensitivity. I definitely do not look down on anyone who does enjoy such movies, and that is why I have said that please do go and see the movie for your own reasons! In fact despite myself I laughed quite a lot in the movie and was entertained but the movie left a bad after taste. I also do not enjoy comedies in which women are constantly the butt of jokes. – Nita.

As a homosexual, I couldn’t at all relate with the characters portrayed in Dostana. And for everyone’s information we do not run like what Abhishak did during his Venice narration. I know it was shown that way to enhance the comical effect. But sadly that’s exactly the image most of the people have about gays and seeing Abhishek doing such stuff, it will only beef up their misconceived beliefs, “See? I knew it. Look even Abhishek is acting that way!”

I admit, I had quite a few laughs. But then again, I didn’t feel like I was laughing at gays, I was laughing at the comicality. Whatever be it, Karan Johar was successful in penetrating the word ‘gay’ into the average households. I guess that was what his intention too, taking baby steps. Now that majority of Indians are aware of homosexuality, and also when we hear phrases like, “Dostana is what in now“, “Wanna do a Dostana?“, let’s hope Bollywood succeeds in moving away from the stereotypes. And no Bobby Darlings please!

Crazy Sam, thank you for sharing your views with us. I think that people should admit that this film is not sensitive to gays and while some people might think it’s alright, some may not. I don’t know why the filmmakers are telling outright lies like this film is sensitive to the gay community and does not stereotype them. And about bringing the subject of gays into the mainstream, that is another matter. I did not initially think of it that way because I have seen several films on this, but yeah, they were not mainstream films. But if this was the first mainstream film to break the barrier, it should have been better. Karan Johar had a great opportunity, top stars, but he messed it up.

Well, I don’t think this Movie Should be taken seriously, its a typical Bollywood, Money making Movie.
there was no Scene in the movie, which you think should be talked so much.
Homosexual relationships are Shown exactly the way they are seen in our Society, there are just handful of people who only talk about it.
But, if this thing happens to their own child, they will react exactly like Kiran Kher did in the moive.

@ Crazy Sam, wd be in to read ur revw soon, and I agree wth you completely when u say he got the word in alright, and yes, it was a baby step in the RIGHT direction :) but there I guess most readers here wdnt agree…

@ Ravi, you had me in splits…I enjoyed the banter so MUCH…. :) hope Shefaly didnt mind tht much

Am thankful to Nita and Shefaly and Rambodoc and Priyank for really drawing me out at times, considering am actually a very shy, reticent person, came back to write my own blog after nearly six months and been writing almost every week since I have been here.
Somethng abt this space is stimualting.
Nita’s readers rock :) love the party here :) thx.

I think we need to understand that indian society is just not ready to see homosexuality in a serious manner. Indians in general are a very conservative bunch and if karan johar had done a serious KANK type of movie where homosexuality was treated in a delicate way, just in terms of the box office and making money on the movie, it would have flopped. That’s reality.

So at this point unfortunately, openmindedness is just not an option and homosexuality won’t be accepted wholeheartedly by the older or present generation of indians….maybe the future generations…we can only hope :)

Manisha, you are so very RIGHT :) thats why he did it the way he has. He is an intelligent man of the times with his finger on the pulse of the Indian population alright and am NOT a KJo fan myself, but this even caught my attention, so he must have done his ‘job’ of taking a baby step to start the ‘sensitizing’ thing in a way that might just get the ‘word’ in, so to speak.

At this point ‘openminded’ seriousness, sensitive is just NOT an option in mainstream cinema. TRUE.

May be too late, but yes I had been to movie after reading reviews across various blog. And thought of putting up comment only after seeing the movie.
Well i just wanted to have a good time after having set back form much much disappointing “GolMaal Returns”.
This movie kept me and my school friends on edge of seat laughing. Not to mention sizzling Priyanka Chopra and awesome Maimi blues.

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